Confusion with a 'K'
by i-lovedyoufirst
Summary: When Simon spends a rare night off with Kaylee and her Mamma, confusion isn't the only thing that he gets tangled up in.
1. Chapter 1

**AN: Hello all! This is my first ever Firefly fic, written for a winning bidder over at **/, **which is an AWESOME cause that I would suggest you all check out! I was asked to write a 2500 word Simon/Kaylee fic set early on in the series when they didn't know each other very well, and my prompt words were "peek" and "shirt." The story that resulted isn't really what I'd set out to write, but here it is just the same! Feel free to comment with loving correction, or just plain love. (:**

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_Confusion with a 'K'_

Chapter One

"Mamma! Just leave him alone." Casting a sidelong glance at Simon, Kaylee's breath caught at what she saw. A smile. A gorram _smile_ playing his lips, and not the fake kind she'd seen him use so many times before either. It was a _real_ smile; the kind that she wasn't even sure Simon himself knew existed. It was the one that slipped out when he and Mal temporarily lost their minds and began to genuinely joke with one another. It was the very same one he wore unknowingly when River successfully goaded their entire motley crew, even Jayne, into a game of hide and seek, and then found them all suspiciously quickly.

He was wearing a _real_ smile, and damn it if it wasn't her very own mother who'd put it there.

Simon waved a hand at her in a friendly, dismissing way. "No worries, Kaylee. I enjoy your mother's questions. I haven't had a chance to exercise my mind like this since…well, since I was in school, I suppose. His smile grew, and how could she argue with that? "Go on, Mrs. Frye."

The older woman shot her daughter a triumphant look, eyebrows raised, radiating _I told you so_. By the time she turned back to Simon, all three of them were grinning like fools. "Okay then, Mister Smarty Pants."

"_Doctor_ Smarty Pants," Simon corrected her playfully.

"Doctor! Forgive me!" Mock remorse. Laughter. "Well, _Doctor_ Smarty Pants, tell me. What's four hundred and ninety three times one hundred and seventy two, divided by eighty three?"

Simon screwed up his face in concentration, tongue peeking out the side of his pursed lips as he ran the numbers though the calculator in his head. Kaylee felt her tummy flutter. A voice in her head began whispering sweet nothings in his voice, began pairing _Kaylee_ with _Tam._ _Shush, you,_ she commanded. It ignored her.

After a brief moment, his face lit up and he met Mrs. Frye's steady gaze. "One thousand and twenty one…point six, three, eight five…five."

Mrs. Frye glanced down at the small, old-fashioned calculator in her hand, and whistled. "Well I'll be, Doctor. That really is something else!"

"Anything else you want to try on me, Mrs. Frye?" Simon asked, smirking. "I'm sure I can handle it."

"No, I think Kaylee's right. Twenty straight questions—and twenty correct answers—is more than enough. I'll just get myself into the kitchen and fix us up some supper. That _ke wu de lao bao jun_ of yours _is_ going to let you stay for dinner, isn't he?" The last was directed at Kaylee.

She threw her mother a stern glare. "All night, Mamma. We leave tomorrow mornin', early. The _Captain_ said it was okay." She nodded briskly at her daughter, and turned back to Simon.

"And you, Doctor? Will you be keepin' us company for dinner?" He looked at Kaylee nervously, waiting for…something.

"Well, I was thinking…I wouldn't mind…Kaylee said it would be…"

"Yes, you will. 'Course you will. It'd just be our pleasure to have you."

His shoulders sagged with the relief of having his babbling cut short, and responded with a simple, "Thank you."

"You said you were gonna start supper, didn't you Mamma?" Kaylee asked gently, easing her mother into an exit from the living room.

"Oh, yes! Yes, 'course I was. Now, you two just have yourselves a nice chat while I get things started." And then she was gone, off to the kitchen with remarkable speed for a woman her age.

"Well?" Kaylee asked, addressing Simon directly for the first time since they'd arrived. "What do you think?" She crossed the carpet quickly, moving from the armchair she'd been inhabiting to the love-seat Simon took up very little of.

"I think she's…well, she's definitely…now I know where you get it from," he finally chose. His cool, comfortable calm had fled the room with Mamma Frye.

"Get what from?" A look of concern crossed her face as she tried to decide whether she and her mother had just been insulted.

"Your…well, your charm, I suppose. Your easy way about you. Your heart for taking the utterly uncomfortable and making them comfortable without even trying, like your mother just did with me. Like you do with River." The words rained from his lips, a stream he was unprepared for but did not attempt to stem the flow of. He allowed the words to pour out, unfettered. When they stopped, leaving him silent again, he could practically _feel_ the awkwardness, tangible, on his skin.

"You think I got charm?" She was looking at her hands, intently studying one smudge of oil more stubborn than the rest. "Nobody ever told me I got charm before."

"Then you have been sorely robbed," Simon assured her, delivering bold words with an unsure, wavering voice. His eyes stared at the spot as well, and she could feel his gaze even as it avoided her. "You should be told, Kaylee. You should be praised for your charm and your beauty, your individual grace, every day." The pause threatened to swallow them again, but he pushed onward. "You…well, I…I apologize. For never saying any of this before."

It was then that Kaylee lifted her eyes, looking at him openly now the way she had been looking at him secretly for months. She wasn't thinking about how Wash would tease, how Zoe would discourage, how Jayne would patronize, how Mal would forbid. She was thinking only about him, and how he thought she was beautiful.

"So whaddaya gonna do about it?" she asked quietly. Simon smiled. Even lovesick, she couldn't help being herself.

"I think," Simon replied, "that I'm probably going to kiss you. With your permission, of course." Kaylee blushed.

"You don't gotta ask my permission. It ain't exactly like I never been kissed before."

"Not by me," he reminded her, and the colour in her cheeks intensified. He had never seen her like this before, and he savored it. It was one more thing to learn about her, and he wanted to know everything. "I want to do this right."

"I feel like a schoolgirl," she admitted with a giggle. "Look at me, a grown woman, waitin' to get kissed by a boy on her Mamma's couch." She giggled again, sweetly, and Simon could only stare.

"This could be crazy, you know," he warned her. "No telling the reception we'll receive back home." _Back home._ The words, tried and true, sounded like song in Kaylee's ears. Her Serenity, their home. Not just 'hers' and 'his,' but 'theirs.' Maybe.

"I don't want to make things difficult for you, Kaylee. You know that I'm not exactly stable, and—"

"And _I_ know," came a voice from the kitchen, "that if you don't give her that kiss you promised pretty soon, she's like to die from all your blabbin' on and on." Mrs. Frye peeked around the door frame, waving a spoon in their direction before darting quickly back into the kitchen, leaving it at that. Kaylee's face burned brighter than ever, but Simon only smiled. The worry melted from his face, however momentarily, as that strange but not unwelcome calm found its home in him once more.

"Yes ma'am!" he called into the kitchen, much to Kaylee's dismay. "I would never have imagined you as someone so easily embarrassed," he said, his voice low. His words were only for her now. "I've got so much to learn."

And then he kissed her.


	2. Chapter 2

_Confusion with a 'K'_

Chapter Two

The rest of the evening passed in a blur of colours bright and new to Kaylee's world. The presence of her mother put them both at ease, and they laughed and ate and joked with one another easily. He grew antsy as the hour grew later, insisting that he had to spend the night back on Serenity, with River. Kaylee was begrudgingly willing to let him go, but her mother refused.

"She's a seventeen year old girl, your sister, and you gotta let her learn to be without her big brother. At least for a night. Inara's a right responsible lady, she won't' let nothin' happen to her. Not in just one night. Now you go off and make a call, check up on her like I know you're itchin' to, and then bed. Both of you. _Beds._ Separate ones." It was been Kaylee's turn to giggle and Simon's turn to blush, but Mrs. Frye's words closed the matter.

Simon gave in, having learned already that Mrs. Frye, not unlike her daughter, was stubborn. He settled for a ten-minute video call with River, the majority of which he spent dodging her awkwardly emphasized, teasing questions about '_spending the night.'_ Mrs. Frye retired to her room while he was still defending his chastity to his little sister, so by the time he hung up, he and Kaylee were alone again.

"I suppose we should say goodnight," Simon said loudly, and Kaylee smiled when she realized he was attempting to clue her mother in on his innocent intentions.

"We will," she assured him. "Don't worry." Taking him by the hand, she led him back to the loveseat. He kissed her again when they were seated, taking her other hand in his and drawing her to him.

"You mean to tell me," she whispered after a moment, "that you liked me all this time and never figgered you should say somethin' about it? All that schoolin' and nothin' ever taught you how to have a ladyfriend?" He shrugged, sheepish.

"Pretty much. I'm sorry, Kaylee. I really am _so_ sorry that I didn't tell you right from the start. But River…" Kaylee nodded, understanding. "I just felt like I owed it to her to give her my complete, undivided attention. I still feel that way, which is one of the reasons—just one of them—that this worries me so much. It's selfish of me to tell you my feelings, to drag you into the crazy Tam family drama." Her heart was thudding, his words resounding in her head in time with its beat. Family. Family. _Family_.

"Don't worry, Simon. I get it. I mean, she is your sister n'all. She deserves all the attention you can give her." Simon nodded, relieved that she understood. "But if you figgered it'd be so selfish…why'd ya tell me tonight? Why'd ya even come?"

"Because…well, I suppose I just…you face when you asked was simply…" He sighed. "The idiotic stammering is back. How is it that you always manage to bring the idiotic stammering back?" She shrugged.

"Just another one'a my charms, I guess," she said.

"Your_ charms,_" repeated playfully, and leaned in for another kiss. "At least this I can manage without stammering."

Kaylee had kissed men before. She had kissed three men, in fact, not including the one she kissed now. Bester had been the last, and it had been so long ago that she could barely remember the feel of him on her. What she knew for sure, however, was that all the men in the 'verse couldn't add up to the magic of Simon's lips against her own.

She could tell that he was nervous, but it was adorable. He seemed unsure of himself, particularly when it came to his hands and what to do with them, and Kaylee couldn't help but wonder if he was entirely new at this.

She asked him as much when he pulled away.

"You ain't exactly had a whole lotta practice at this, bein' a genius and all, have you?" His face fell.

"Oh God. Can you tell? Is it that bad?" He pulled away. "Should we stop? We should stop. I'm sorry."

She laughed, but it was sweet, and something inside him melted. He leaned in to kiss her again, fear gone, shame gone. "Simon," she whispered into his lips, "don't worry. It's shiny."

They went on like that for a while, kissing and whispering and sharing each other. When it finally _was_ time for bed, he wrapped his arms around her in the most reassuring away she had ever known. "Goodnight, Kaylee," he had whispered in her ear. "I'll see you in the morning."

The promise left her soaring.


	3. Chapter 3

_Confusion with a 'K'_

Chapter Three

She was still soaring at three o'clock that morning, wrapped up in a blanket next to her mother on the couch. She had never fallen asleep, but rather had rewound and replayed every moment of their night together over and over behind her eyes. When she crept out of her room for a midnight snack, she had found her mother waiting on the sofa for her with a small bowl of freshly washed strawberries and a smile. She felt like a little girl again, and curled up next to the older woman without hesitation.

"Tell me about this boy." The strawberries were gone now, and the two women lay curled together, sleep in their eyes and love in their hearts. Kaylee's for Simon, and Mrs. Frye's for her Kaylee. _Finally,_ there was love, real love, for her daughter.

"He's wonderful, Mamma," Kaylee gushed. "He's smart 'n funny 'n nice…he's a _doctor_!" Her mother giggled at the emphasis.

"I know it, sweetie. I was there all night too, remember? Tell me somethin' else. Somethin' I couldn't figger out just by spendin' five minutes with him."

"Well, he…sometimes, he…" Her brow furrowed, and she _harrumph_ed in the darkness. "I don't know, Mamma. It's late. I'm tired." But her mother did not let it drop.

"How long've you known this boy exactly, Kaylee?" Her daughter shrugged sheepishly.

"Little while."

"But not long enough to know anything important about him, I gather."

"I know _plenty_ about him." Mrs. Frye put a finger under her daughter's chin, tilting her face up and giving her a long look that only mothers have perfected, and that only mothers ever _will_ perfect. It was a look more loving than any that Inara could produce, and more withering than Mal's very best. It was all in the eyes somehow, Kaylee was sure, but more than that she would not know until she was a mother herself.

"Do you think maybe you're jumping a little too quickly again, my sweet Kaywinnit? Like you did with Bester? Or like you did with Mal?"

At that, Kaylee pulled her face away from her mother's hands. "I wasn't nothin' but a _girl_ with Bester. I was a stupid little girl, didn't know nothin'."

"And with Mal?"

"That was just a crush, Mamma. I only had a _crush_ on Mal, and besides, followin' him onto Serenity was the best decision I ever made in my whole life. Up til then, it was the _only_ decision I ever made in my whole life. It grew me up, Mamma. I think Simon's gonna grow me up, too." Her mother's eyes widened, but she took her daughter's words to heart.

"You know how easy you get hurt, darlin'. That's all I'm sayin'. You might be a grown woman now, but even grown women still need Mammas. And yours is just tellin' you to be careful, that's all. To think a little bit about this with your head before you turn it over completely to your heart."

Kaylee nodded, eyes down. She had heard this all before, but this time it was _different._ Simon might come with a lot of baggage, but it was nothing she couldn't handle. She knew that for sure. Maybe she didn't know him full well, but she would _get_ to know him. People got to know each other all the time and things worked out just fine. Things would work out _just fine. _She thought all this, but said nothing. She didn't need to.

Kaylee was on the verge of going back to bed when they heard a shout from the room Simon was supposed to have been sleeping in. _"Tzao-gao!"_

"Simon?" she called, jumping up and racing to his door. "Simon, what's going on?"

"I've just had a call from Inara. River's having some sort of attack, falling down and convulsing, unable to speak…I have to go. I have to go _now._"

"Should I come too?"

Simon's eyes, which until then had been darting around the room at top speeds as he gathered together the few belongings he'd brought with him, finally focused on Kaylee's face. "Kaylee. Oh, Kaylee, no. You should stay here, with your mom. I'm sorry I woke you up at all. Just go back to bed, and have a nice breakfast with her in the morning. I'll see you back on the ship afterward." _On the ship._ No _at home_.

"But Simon…with everythin' that happened tonight, I really think I should be with you. It's kinda my place now, right? To be with you when stuff like this happens?"

"Stuff like this," he repeated with a dry laugh, and the heavy sadness in his voice frightened her. He rubbed a hand over his tired eyes before replying. "Wuh de tyen, ah, Kaylee, my whole _life_ is 'stuff like this.' Always. And I don't want to drag you into it."

"Simon, you're not _draggin'_ me anywhere!"

"Kaylee, please. I just…I _told_ you this was too much. I can't. I just can't. I need to be with River."

"But I can too, Simon, just—"

"No!" Pulling a shirt he'd discarded on the floor over his head, Simon zipped up his small bag and slung it over his shoulder. "I'm sorry, Kaylee. I really am sorry to do this to you, you have to believe me, but it's not right. For River."

"Is it right for you?" she asked softly, and he averted his eyes.

"It's not," he responded, and she wasn't convinced as he brushed by her into the living room, which was now suspiciously void of her mother. "I'm sorry. Just…just forget about tonight, okay? It was wrong of me to come, and I hope you can forgive me. I'll see you back on Serenity. Thank your mother for me." And with that, he was out the front door of her childhood home without a backward glance, and she was once more without him.

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**AN: That's it, ladies and gentlemen! By all means, let me know what you thought! (:**


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